Jerome Gambit: Theory and Practice (Part 2)

Another game from Vlastimil Fejfar. His opponent fearlessly offers a piece (matching the one Vlasta offered in the opening) for active counter-play, but the followup is marred by some inaccuracies, and once again the Jerome Gambit - and the gambiteer! - triumphs.  

Vlastous 2344 - Iva 1816
ChessManiac.com, 2016

1 e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+
Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.Nc3 

Varying from the previous game of Vlasta's that we took a look at, which saw 10.0-0 instead.

10...Rf8 

Alternately:

10...Kf7 11.f4 (11.d4 Re8 12.O-O Bd7 13.f4 Kg8 14.f5 Ne7 15.Qf3 Nc6 16.Be3 Qe7 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.exd5 Qxe3+ 19.Qxe3 Rxe3 20.dxc6 Bxc6 21.c4 Rae8 22.d5 Bd7 23.b3 Re2 24.f6 gxf6 25.Rxf6 Rf8 26.Rff1 Rxf1+ 27.Kxf1 Rb2 28.Re1 Kf8 29.Re3 Rxa2 30.Rf3+ Ke8 31.Re3+ Kf8 32.Rf3+ Kg7 33.Re3 Kf6 34.Rf3+ Ke5 35.Rf7 Bf5 36.Rxc7 b6 37.Re7+ Kf6 38.Re3 a5 39.h3 h5 40.Rf3 Ke5 41.Rg3 a4 42.bxa4 Rxa4 43.Rb3 Rxc4 44.Rxb6 Kxd5 45.Rb5+ Ke4 46.Rb8 d5 47.Rh8 Bg6 48.Rg8 Kf5 49.Rf8+ Kg5 50.Rd8 d4 51.Rd5+ Kh6 52.g4 hxg4 53.hxg4 d3 54.g5+ Kh5 55.Ke1 Rg4 56.Kd2 Rxg5 57.Rd8 Rg2+ 58.Kd1 Kg5 59.Rd5+ Kf4 60.Rd8 Ke3 White resigned, mrjoker - serge57, Internet Chess Club, 2008) 11...Rf8 12.O-O Ng4 13.Qg3 Kg8 14.f5 N6e5 15.d4 Nf6 16.dxe5 Nxe4 17.Nxe4 dxe5 18.Bh6 Qe7 19.f6 Qf7 20.fxg7 Qxf1+ 21.Rxf1 Rxf1+ 22.Kxf1 Black resigned, shugart - Amanchous, FICS, 2013); or

10...Be6 11.d4 Qd7 (11...Qe7 12.O-O Kf7 13.f4 Bc4 14.Re1 Rhe8 15.e5 dxe5 16.fxe5 Nd5 17.Qf3+ Kg8 18.b3 Rf8 19.Qg3 Nxc3 20.Qxc3 Bd5 21.Qe3 c6 22.c4 Be6 23.Bd2 b6 24.Rf1 Rxf1+ 25.Rxf1 Rf8 26.Rxf8+ Qxf8 27.Qf3 Qxf3 28.gxf3 Nh4 29.Kf2 Nf5 30.Be3 Nxe3 31.Kxe3 Kf7 32.Ke4 Ke7 33.d5 cxd5+ 34.cxd5 Bh3 35.f4 g6 36.a3 Bf5+ 37.Kd4 h5 38.b4 Kd7 39.a4 a6 40.a5 bxa5 41.bxa5 Kc7 42.Kc5 Be4 43.e6 Bf5 44.d6+ Kd8 45.Kd5 Bh3 46.Ke5 Bg4 47.Kf6 Bf5 48.Kf7 Bxe6+ 49.Kxe6 Ke8 50.Kf6 Kd7 51.Kxg6 Kxd6 52.f5 Ke7 53.f6+ Kf8 54.f7 h4 55.h3 Ke7 56.Kg7 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - chesstraininglab, FICS, 2008) 12.f4 Bf7 13.f5 Ne7 14.O-O Bc4 15.Re1 Kf7 16.h3 Rhe8 17.Qf2 Nc6 18.b3 Ba6 19.Bb2 b5 20.Rad1 b4 21.e5 bxc3 22.e6+ Black resigned, MrJoker - DamjanBlazeka, Internet Chess Club, 2011; or

10...Qe7 11.O-O Kf7 12.Nd5 Nxd5 13.exd5 Qxe3 14.fxe3+ Ke7 15.d4 Bd7 16.g3 Bb5 17.Rf5 Rhf8 18.Rxf8 Rxf8 19.Bd2 Kd7 20.e4 c6 21.dxc6+ bxc6 22.d5 cxd5 23.exd5 Bc4 24.Bc3 Ne5 25.Rd1 g6 26.b3 Be2 27.Rb1 Nf3+ 28.Kg2 Ng5 29.Re1 Bf3+ 30.Kg1 Bxd5 31.Rf1 Rxf1+ 32.Kxf1 Be4 33.Bd4 a6 34.c4 Bb1 35.a3 Ba2 36.b4 Bxc4+ 37.Kf2 d5 38.Ke3 Kc6 39.a4 Ne6 40.Be5 Bb3 41.a5 Kb5 42.Bd6 d4+ 43.Ke4 Bc2+ 44.Kd5 d3 Black resigned, Haroldlee123 - Knight32, ChessWorld JG6, 2011. 

11.d4 Ng4 12.Qg3 Qf6 

Black builds his pressure on f2. Perhaps he avoided the reasonable 12...Nxf2 because of 13.O-O!? 

13.f3 h5 

Bold! Daring White to open up his King by taking the piece. (The "objective" Stockfish 7 prefers the Knight retreat 13...Nh6.)

After White chases the enemy Queen away from her attack on the pawn at d4, he accepts the piece. 

14.Nd5 Qf7 15.fxg4 Bxg4 16.Be3 Rc8 

Both Kings will remain in the center, but White's will be safer, and the first player has an extra pawn.

17.Kd2 Qd7 

This is a tactical oversight, as it un-protects his Knight, making his Bishop loathe to move.

Vlasta is quick to respond.  

18.h3 h4 19.Qxg4 Qxg4 20.hxg4 c6 21.Nc3 b6

White is clearly better.

22.Raf1 Rc7 23.Rf5 Rh8 24.Rg5 Nf8 25.d5 c5 26.Nb5 Rd7 27.Bf4 Rh6 28.Rf5 Rf6 29.g5 Rxf5 30.exf5 

30...g6

Allowing checkmate, but Black's position was untenable. White's material advantage is too great; Black's King is too vulnerable.

31.Nxd6+ Kd8 32.Rxh4 gxf5 33.Rh8 Ke7 34.Be5 Ng6 35.Re8 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Theory and Practice (Part 1)

I recently received a couple more games from Vlastimil Fejfar (see "Correspondence Play" Parts 1, 2, 3 for an introduction) - both quite complicated.

The following game makes its way through early Jerome Gambit theory and practice, as indicated by the links to games in the notes. There is a lot to understand from the first 12 moves - and that isn't even half of the game!

The game gets more and more complicated, but Vlasta crashes through for the win. 

Vlastous 2131 - AmetovB 2074
ChessManiac.com, 2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.O-O Rf8 

10...Kf7 was seen in perrypawnpusher - whitepandora, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 64). 

Also: 10...Ng4 11.Qc3 N6e5 12.d4 Nxh2 13.Kxh2 Qh4+ 14.Kg1 Ng4 15.Bf4 Rf8 16.Bg3 Qh5 17.f3 Nf6 18.Qxc7 Bd7 19.Bxd6 Rc8 20.Qxb7 Rf7 21.Nc3 Qg5 22.Rae1 Ng4 23.Qd5 Qxd5 24.Nxd5 Nf6 25.Ne3 Rc6 26.e5 Nh5 27.d5 Ra6 28.e6 Bxe6 29.Nc4 Rxd6 30.Nxd6+ Kd7 31.dxe6+ Kxd6 32.exf7 Black resigned, Wall,B - Guest1660564, PlayChess.com, 2013. 

11.f4 

A couple of other pawn ideas:

11.f3 as in mrjoker - PhlebasP, Internet Chess Club, 2009 (1-0, 35); and 11.d4 as in De Bouver,G - Verstappen, Mechelen, 2015 (1/2-1/2, 19) 

11...Kf7 

Or 11...Qe7 as in perrypawnpusher - parlance, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 20), perrypawnpusher - obturator, blitz, FICS, 2012 (1-0, 31), and perrypawnpusher - fogab, blitz, FICS, 2014, (1-0, 27); or 

11...Ng4 as in perrypawnpusher - jgknight, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1/2-1/2, 58),  perrypawnpusher - lorecai, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 47) and perrypawnpusher - dkahnd, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 24); or

11...Rf7 as in mrjoker - Mandragora, Internet Chess Club, 2008 (1-0, 49) and perrypawnpusher - dkahnd, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 30). 

12.f5 Ne7 

More frequently see is 12...Ne5 as in 13.d4 Neg4 14.Qd3 (or 14.Qf4 in perrypawnpusher - Jore, blitz, FICS, 2010 [1-0, 32] ; or 14.Qb3+ in perrypawnpusher - avgur, blitz, FICS, 2013 [0-1, 27]) 14...Kg8 15.h3 Bxf5 (or 15...Nh6 in perrypawnpusher - kenkenaditya, blitz, FICS, 2014 [1-0, 33]) 16.Rxf5 d5 17.hxg4 dxe4 18.Qxe4 Nxe4 White resigned,  perrypawnpusher - scarsetto, blitz, FICS, 2014.

Vlasta is on his own now. The first thing he does is provoke Black, allowing his own "Jerome pawns" to advance. An interesting skirmish against the Black Knights follows.

13.Qb3+ d5 14.e5 Ng4 15.Qg3 Nh6 16.f6 Ng6 17.d4 Nf5 18.Qd3

18...gxf6 19.g4 Rg8 20.Kh1 Nfh4 

The position grows more complex. Black should have kept a balanced position with 20...Nfe7 21.Rxf6+ Ke8.

21.Bg5 Bf5 

This can't be right; but look at the position.

22.gxf5 Nxe5 23.dxe5 Rxg5 24.e6+ Ke7 

Black has returned the gambit piece, and employs his King to blockade the enemy passed pawn.

Look closely, however, as his game quickly falls apart.  

25.Nc3 d4 26.Qe4 Qd6 27.Nd5+ Ke8 28.Nxf6+ Ke7 29.Qxh4 Qc6+ 30.Ne4 h6 31.Rae1 Rh8 32.Rf3 Black resigned

Complicated to the end. Look at the pins!

(This is blog post number 2,300.)

Tournament Update

The second round of the RedHotPawn Jerome Gambit thematic tournament has started. SeinfeldFan91 (2171),  procyk (1865),  kristjan (1673), rigidwithfear (1481) and junnujannu (1397) are battling it out for top honors!

I will share first round games, with analysis, when such attention does not interfere with the ongoing games. At the completion of the tournament, I will add second round games.

Good chess, all!